Singapore shares open muted on Monday; STI up 0.01%

SINGAPORE shares were little changed on Monday (Apr 10), as trading resumed following the Good Friday holiday. Global markets had also ended higher before the long Easter weekend break.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose marginally by 0.01 per cent, or 0.43 points, to 3,300.91 as at 9.01 am. Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers 68 to 37, after 49.5 million securities worth S$30.9 million changed hands.

Sembcorp Marine was the most actively traded counter by volume, with 22.4 million shares traded flat at S$0.12. The offshore and marine group’s post-merger market cap of S$8.2 billion has made it the largest counter on the STI reserve list, making it a candidate for inclusion into the index in coming months, subject to performance.

Other actively traded counters include The Place Holdings , with 2.5 million shares traded flat at S$0.006, and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , which also traded flat at S$2.02.

Banking stocks opened the week mixed. DBS fell 2.4 per cent or S$0.80 to S$32.58 on an ex-dividend basis, following pressure from green activists over its loan to Australian energy company Santos. UOB climbed 0.6 per cent or S$0.17 to S$30.00, while OCBC gained 0.3 per cent or S$0.40 to S$12.77.

Wall Street stocks concluded a holiday-shortened trading week mostly higher on Thursday, ahead of the release of March employment numbers on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat at 33,485.29. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent to 4,105.02, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite index advanced 0.8 per cent to 12,087.96.

SEE ALSO

Stocks to watch:  Sembmarine, EC World Reit, Raffles Education, CDL

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In Europe, shares rose on Thursday with banking stocks among the biggest boosts. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index inched up 0.5 per cent to 458.94 to post its third consecutive weekly gain.